Ideas and Resources for Teaching Spanish and MFL from a Spanish Teacher using Mary Glasgow Magazines in her Classroom.

Spanish Football/Soccer Idioms

By Maje

A Spanish version follows.

Football (fútbol in Spanish) is a very important sport in Spain, a key part of Spanish culture, and it features in many idioms and colloquialisms.

This week, I have written an article with podcast on El Balón de Oro, one of the most important football awards in the world. Cristiano Ronaldo, a Real Madrid player, has won the Balón de Oro and has presented the trophy to the fans at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, in Madrid. In the article I wrote for El Sol level, I used the Spanish sports expression rematar la faena.As we want to help our readers develop vocabulary skills, I have created an infographic with more Spanish sports idioms, focused on football.

For a vocabulary activity, how about having your students read the idioms below then match them with their definition? Afterwards, ask your students to find a similar expression in their mother tongue.

Idioms

1. Ser un crack

2. Echar balones fuera

3. A estas alturas del partido

4. Quedarse en fuera de juego

5. Ser un partido

6. Sacar tarjeta roja

Definitions

a) En este momento, por ahora.

b) Ser una persona que destaca por sus habilidades.

c) Quedarse sin respuesta, muy sorprendido.

d) Ser una persona adecuada o poco adecuada para casarse con ella.

e) Castigar o reñir a alguien que ha hecho algo malo.

f) Evitar responder una pregunta o evitar una situación.

Answers: 1-b, 2-f, 3-a, 4-c, 5-d, 6-e.

As an extension task, you could talk to your students about the importance of fútbol in Spanish culture and ask them if they think sports are important in their country, which sports are popular and to make comparisons…

When working with Spanish idioms, do you give your students an English translation or do you prefer to use definitions in Spanish? Do you integrate culture in the classroom? How do you develop cultural proficiency? Looking forward to your comments. 🙂